


Hole in the Ocean

by cipherpolice



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Kissing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-07-29
Updated: 2013-08-06
Packaged: 2017-12-21 17:47:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/903082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cipherpolice/pseuds/cipherpolice
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mako and Raleigh deal with the aftermath of the destruction of the breach... and the fact that they can't stop kissing each other. Mostly fluff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A peck on the cheek.

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt from the LJ Kink meme: 
> 
> "She kisses him first, a peck on the cheek, and from then on, the two of them can't stop kissing. Anywhere but on the lips.
> 
> Kisses to foreheads, necks, cheeks, etc; they just build up the love, trust and UST until the big damn kiss happens."
> 
> This is my first fic like, ever bros. Hope it goes well.

Raleigh had felt his shoulders tensing, his brow furrowing, as Herc briefed them in the Shatterdome yesterday. The PPDC had rented a conference room in one of Hong Kong's most opulent hotels. He and Mako would stay in the room, lights in their eyes, as reporters from around the world shuffled in and out with their camera crews and microphones, in roughly 10-minute intervals. And they would sit there, answering the same questions over and over again in different words.

Like movie stars on a press tour. A necessary evil, apparently. Herc wanted to to show the world how relevant the PPDC was, and would continue to be. The first step to funding was exposure, and if the world wouldn't forget them, then certainly the UN would start to pay attention again. They started at 0800 hours, and with that, Herc dismissed them. 

The time wasn't a problem, as far as he was concerned. Raleigh was chipper in the mornings, able to wake up with little grogginess. Mako was a different story, usually having stayed up too late with her tablet, punching in endless numbers and facts to have enough sleep for high spirits in the morning. So, before the car came to escort them at 0800 hours, Raleigh detoured to the mess hall, and returned with two cups of coffee in hand. Mako, habitually punctual (even in the mornings) was already in the car, eyes shooting him daggers for being late. It was only 0807. 

"Here, I brought you a coffee." Raleigh said, climbing into the car and handing her a cup. "Black, two sugars, the way you like it."

For a moment she looked surprised, eyebrows raising slightly, but her face quickly settled into a look of comprehension. Her taste in coffee was yet another thing that had wafted into his mind through the Drift. 

Raleigh buckled in, and the car sped off to the hotel.

 

 

 

Five hours in, and Raleigh was at the end of his rope. His back ached from the stool he was sitting on, his forehead beaded with sweat from the camera lights, and no matter how much water he drank, his throat was always dry when they asked him a question. 

"Thank you for your time. Ladies and gentlemen, this is CNN, speaking with the-" the reporter paused, inflecting her voice for emphasis " - _heroic_ pilots of Gipsy Danger, Raleigh Becket and Mako Mori."

Stiffly, Raleigh rose to shake the reporter's hand, which the reporter responded to a bit too vicariously. Raleigh was already worn out from repeating himself to so many people, but Mako seemed to be getting progressively more pleasant and vocal with each interview. She put down her coffee, and joined Raleigh in bidding the reporter farewell.

"What's next?" Mako asked, reaching for the schedule on the table between them. 

Raleigh leaned over her shoulder, looking at the schedule. He checked his watch, 12:30 p.m. 1230 hours, and responded "Looks like we have a lunch break." 

As if on cue, a knock at the door revealed a cart with sandwiches and juice. Raleigh decided to eat standing, stretching his legs in a slow walk as he drank some orange juice.

As they settled back into their seats in for their next interview, at 1:00, Mako put a hand on his arm, causing Raleigh to cock his head towards her. She looked up at him through her dark bangs, and a shyness rippled through his mind, a small ghost drift. Raleigh furrowed his brows, unable to pin why she pressed for his attention, only to be bashful. Suddenly, she stood from her chair, not moving her hand, her face quickly close to his. She slowed for a moment, then landed the softest kiss on his cheekbone.

"Thank you for the coffee this morning - I really needed it." and with that, Mako retreated, that same upwards stare through her bangs tracking his face as she sat back down. 

Raleigh tried to concentrate during the interview, but just as they'd ask him a question, he'd relive the moment in his mind, resulting in a confused "huh?" as he drifted back to reality.  


	2. A kiss on the hand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mako and Raleigh spar; it ends all too quickly.

Mako woke to the hollow metallic knocking at her door. She stared at it, back flat, head tumbling over her right shoulder, unwilling to remove herself from her warm blankets and cross the cold concrete floor to open it. Instead, she focused at the pinpoint of brightness, trying to will her eyes to resolve an image of whoever was on the other side.

Still half-asleep, the irritation and disappointment rippling through her mind jolted her awake. Probably Raleigh. Mako promptly swung her feet over the edge of her bed, reluctantly making contact with the chilly floor.

She crossed the room, flinging the door open to see Raleigh's back heading across the hallway back to his own door. He turned back, shoulders set wide, eyes bright. "I came to ask if you wanted to spar.. you know, get your juices flowing before all that desk work. How about it?" he asked, confident and casual. The drift betrayed an excited energy beneath that exterior, but she gave him the benefit of the doubt.

Mako turned her head to look at the papers on her desk, at her tablet, disdainfully. It wasn't that she enjoyed the paperwork - surely he'd seen this in the Drift? Is that why he was asking? - but simply that sensei, in the hopes it would keep her from the battlefield, assigned it to her. When he'd left this world, that task had stayed, and Mako would do him no dishonour by complaining about the work. She could, however, avoid it.

"That sounds like a plan. I'll meet you in the Kwoon." Mako says, turning back to her room to change into fatigues.

 

 

 

She set her boots down, toes neatly touching the edge of the mat. Wrapping her right arm around her bo staff, she approaches the center of the mat. Raleigh waits, legs in a wide stance, scarred left arm and shoulder set slightly back, bo staff in his right hand. “Ladies first,” he gestures with a cavalier smile.

Mako hates that act. Having been inside his head, inside the drift, the raw emotions he associated with her memory came through clear as day. Respect and equal and sharp and curious and strong and sympathy. She knew that to Raleigh she was not a lady that needed doors opening, coats thrown over puddles. The term was patronizing; it agitated her. 

Releasing a terse sigh, Mako cleared her mind. _Focus on the forms,_ she thought to herself. An echo of a man sounded in her mind as she did: _Mori-san; more focus._ Sadness welled in her chest; her mouth twitched slightly in reaction. She pursed her lips, spread her legs, and bent her knees, holding the bo staff low in the ichimonji stance. She waited, evening her breath as best she could as her adrenaline rose in anticipation. Almost imperceptibly, Raleigh shifted his weight to his front leg into the seigan stance, and that’s when she sprung into action.

Shifting her weight, she thrust her staff forward to meet the blow she knew would come from Raleigh’s. The blow came, a dull crack from the staffs as they met. The staff reverberated from the blow, numbing her hand as she held it. She curled the staff around her right arm again, bending low As she did, she pivoted her body on her right leg, bringing her left leg up and around in a roundhouse kick, aiming for his left shoulder.

Raleigh blocked the attack, holding his staff in both hands, moving to tangle the staff around her leg as she lashed with her left foot, pulling Mako’s other foot from the ground. She had a split second to react, stiffening her legs. With one leg above the staff from the kick, and one coming up from below as he flipped her, the tension causing the staff to pinwheel in his hands, twisting his wrists. She comes to the ground with a thud, bringing his staff with her, disarming Raleigh. 

Breaths heaved out of her chest, and she backed up a couple of steps, allowing Raleigh to collect his staff from the ground. She tucked a couple strands of sweaty hair behind her ears, and looked him square in the eye as he rises. “1-0.” she stubbornly proclaimed.

A breathy chuckle escaped from Raleigh in response. “Absolutely not. 0-0, you didn’t land a hit and neither did I.  You aren’t focused today, Ms. Mori.” The playful glint in his eyes and the beginnings of a smile on his lips hinted at a next move, and though she could see his body swiftly shift its weight, Mako wasn’t quick enough to stop the staff as it careened towards her head, tracing the arc a katana would make as it swung down her.

 

_Mori-san; more focus._

_You aren’t focused today, Ms. Mori._

 

She wasn’t quick enough. She threw her staff up in the air, in a two arm hold, kneeling to meet the blow. But not quick enough, and not accurate enough, and not focused enough, distracted by memories as she was. Instead of hearing the crack of the staffs as the met each other, Mako was greeted with another sensation entirely: a shattering pressure, followed by a searing heat, followed by the sudden pain of blood rushing all to one small area all at once, across the top of her left hand, where she gripped the staff. Reflexively her hands shot open, and the bo staff dropped to the ground with a clatter. Mako dropped too, curling around her knees in pain as she held her left hand with her right, trying to bite back the tears.

Raleigh was soon to follow, throwing his staff to the other side of the kwoon, kneeling in front of her on the mats. He smacked his forehead open-palmed, brows furrowed in frustration. “Ah, shit. I didn’t mean to do that. Are you okay?” He leaned forward, reaching for the injured hand Mako cradled close to her chest. “Let me see it.”

Mako slowly uncurled herself, holding the injured hand out. The blow Raleigh landed was slowly turning to an angry red welt on her hand, swollen and raw. It throbbed with every heartbeat. Raleigh held the hand gently, in his, and the contact and his closeness made the throbbing increase in frequency.

Mako looked up from her hand, and found piercing blue eyes looking up from Raleigh’s dark brows staring straight at her.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Mori. Apparently I’m the one who’s unfocused today.” And with that, he broke eye contact, lowering his lips across the wound. “Best I can do for now is a kiss to make it better. But come on, let’s get up and find you a first aid kit.” Raleigh rose from the mats, releasing Mako’s hand. He collected the staffs and returned them to their place. 

Mako slowly rose behind him, feeling the blood rushing to her ears in a blush, memorizing exactly where his lips touched her hand in her mind. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took way longer than I anticipated. Alas, the tribulations of adult life.
> 
> The names for the different stances were taken from here http://www.kobudoindia.com/weapons/bo.html.
> 
> More... soon enough? :D

**Author's Note:**

> More to come soon enough.


End file.
